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Learning Systema

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The articles presented here are for the education and enjoyment of the Systema community. The writers are solely responsible for the content and such content may not completely reflect the views of Russian Martial Art Systema by Vladimir Vasiliev. Any training conducted by you is at your sole risk.

It was my first day back
in Vancouver after visiting the Toronto HQ for a dose of excellent training, I
felt clear and recharged. Being as I had been away from home for a few weeks, I
needed to run some errands and headed out to talk a brisk walk to my
destinations.
I was walking peacefully on East Broadway
(Vancouver) when a man carrying a large "boom-box" was strutting down
the street with his music blaring. Noticing the noise first, I turned to look
where this was coming from. […]

I would like to tell you a story, that happened in year 1981.
I was 17 years old.
One night, my sister
woke me up. It was about 2 a.m. She was unsettled and told me, that somebody is
walking in our house and she thought that he was a thief.
I had been
doing karate for 2 years that time. I took part in many competitions and I was
really good at it in my category. I trained with nunchaks as well.
In pyjamas
and slippers I got up, took nunchaks, which I had next to my bed, and I started
going through our house. […]

Recently, I travelled to Barcelona, with my wife, for a short holiday.
While travelling on the Metro, we realized that we were being interviewed by a
female spotter as potential targets for some pick pockets. Though I don’t speak
Spanish, I gleaned from her message as she had mentioned the name of the
station we were in. I also noted that she was overtly flirtatious in her body
language towards me (this is highly unusual for me). As we were getting on the
subway, we moved away from her, stood at the door opposite and let her know
that we were aware of her. […]

A common question asked is: do you have to be Orthodox Christian or even religious in order to be good at Systema? The answer is no. But the concept of faith and religious philosophy in Systema is an intriguing one.
What is the purpose of faith in Systema other than the well known health and well-being benefits? I think there are many, and they are certainly worth exploring, as the heart of the art is more than certainly rooted in religious philosophy.
To me it seems likely that the concept of Systema has been around for a very
long time, a lot longer than the name Systema itself. […]

One day many years ago, a good friend of mine who worked for years as a corrections officer with the most dangerous inmates in a notoriously rough facility, and who knew of my interest in esoteric martial arts, took me aside with a smile and offered to give me "a lesson in how the real world works".
He then demonstrated on me physically a dozen different prison knife killings that he had either observed or cleaned up after. The setup, the attack, the follow-through. […]